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MILITIA:
- A body of citizens enrolled and drilled in military organizations
other than the regular military forces, and called out only in
emergencies. U.S. Able-bodied male citizens between
eighteen and forty-five years of age not members of the regular
military forces, and legally subject to call for military duty.
As defined in Funk and Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary.
1966
Prior to the Revolutionary War, each
of the 13 colonies required its citizens
to enroll and train in the militia, and
during the war about half of the Continental
Army consisted of militiamen. The tradition
of a trained militia goes back many centuries
in the western world so it was easily carried
into the American colonies. Here its primary
function in the early days was dealing
with the Indians.
Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia (1676)
was an unauthorized use of the militia
in "putting down Indian distrubances without
waiting for the tardy action of the Governor.
Nathaniel Bacon boldly led his neighbors
to an attack on these Indians without due
authority from Governor Berkeley, who had
promised (Bacon) a commission, but had
failed in this and other promises of assistance
to the distressed colonists. Berkeley forthwith
proclaimed Bacon a rebel, and war on a
small scale ensued and continued until
the latter's sudden death." (p. 135, Footprints
of Four Centuries, by Mabie and Bright.
Before 1900).
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence touched
on the colonists' objections to being governed
from afar and having an army directed by
this government which was not responsive
to local needs. "He (the present King of
Great Britain) has erected a multitude
of New Offices, and sent hither swarms
of Officers to harass our people, and eat
out their substance. He has kept among
us in times of peace, Standing Armies without
the Consent of our legislatures. He has
affected to render the Military independent
of and superior to the Civil power. He
has combined with others to subject us
to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution,
and unacknowledged by our laws; giving
his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops
among us: For protecting them, by a mock
Trial, from punishment for any Murders
which they should commit on the Inhabitants
of these States: . . . He is at this time
transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries
to compleat the works of death, desolation
and tyranny, already begun with circumstances
of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled
in the most barbarous ages, and totally
unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
. . . He has excited domestic insurrections
amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring
on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the
merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule
of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction
of all ages, sexes and conditions."
United States Constitution
Article 1, Section 8 -
The Congress shall have power:
(15) To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union,
suppress insurrections and repel invasions;
(16) To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and
for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United
States, reserving to the States respectively, the appointment of the officers,
and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed
by Congress;
Article 2, Section 2 -
(1) The President shall be commander in chief of the army and navy of the United
States, and of the militia of the several States, when called into the actual
service of the United States;
Amendment 2 -
A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,
the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.
Kentucky's Militia Convention - 1784
Feeling that the state of Virginia was
not protecting the citizens of Kentucky,
to which state Kentucky belonged, these
fiercely independent frontiersmen decided
they must establish their own militia,
as well as their own state. The primary
decision made at the first of ten conventions
leading to statehood in 1792 was the establishment
of a militia. Later, in 1811, Kentucky's Cornstalk
Militia was established in time to
supply soldiers for the War of 1812.
U.S. Militia Act of 1792
This act placed every "free able-bodied
white male citizen" into the militia at
age 18.
Evolution of the National Guard
In 1903 the United States took over partial
control of the National Guard from the
states. Now guardsmen take an oath of allegiance
to their state as well as to the United
States government. Prior to 1903 the President
had to call up the National Guard by contacting
the governors of the states.
In 1916 the National Defense Act provided
for drafting the National Guard into United
States service, thus removing the operations
from the states' command.
Each state, as well as the District of
Columbia, has its own National Guard. Guardsmen
enlist voluntarily, and are formed into
distinctive units in the same way that
active military units are. The armories,
used for assembling of guardsmen as well
as storage of their supplies, are frequently
used for emergency shelters for civilians
in time of natural disasters. During peacetime
National Guardsmen attend 48 weekly drill
and training periods in addition to two
full weeks of field training every year.
For this service the men receive a regular,
though small, paycheck.
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